Russia to deliver submarine to India by year end: report

Russia will deliver a long-awaited nuclear submarine to India by the end of the year, the country's navy chief was quoted as saying by the state RIA Novosti news agency on Friday.

The date for the delivery of the Nerpa submarine in which 20 people died in an accident during sea trials in 2008 has been pushed back several times.

"We will definitely deliver the submarine to the customer by the end of the year," Russia's navy commander Vladimir Vysotsky was quoted as saying in Russia's second city of Saint Petersburg.

He added that an Indian crew was fully trained and ready to receive the vessel.

The Nerpa was undergoing trials in the Sea of Japan in November 2008 when its fire-fighting system went off by accident, filling the submarine with a toxic gas that killed 20 sailors and shipyard workers.

Russia supplies 70 percent of India's military hardware but New Delhi has been unhappy about delays to arms orders from Moscow and looked to other suppliers including Israel and the United States in recent years.